Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I again say that my thoughts are very much with the 650 people who have been put on temporary layoff. I understand this will have an impact on thousands of people, not just family members but also other people in Navan and Meath who will be impacted by this. Government will offer support in the form of income support, advice on job searching and options for the employees. However, our main effort will be to get the mine back open as soon as possible, on which we will engage with the company, and to secure its long-term future through Tara Deep. We are working on that as well. I do not know the exact timeline of the engagement between the company and the Government, but I heard the Deputy say that the company wrote to the Government six months ago and got no response. I know that is not the case. There has been engagement and there have been meetings. Indeed, its representatives were scheduled to meet the Minister, Deputy Coveney, only next week.

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